Tokyo stocks fall for third straight session

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks gave up early gains to close down for a third straight session on Monday as market sentiment remained weak following recent volatile trade.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which lost 5.9% last week, fell 0.16% or 34.80 points to close at 21 149.80, while the broader Topix index was down 0.40% or 6.45 points to 1 589.56.

Tokyo shares opened higher as investors bought on dips following the recent decline.

The morning rebound came after Wall Street stocks finished a volatile week on a sour note on Friday as disappointing earnings from Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet sparked a selloff in tech shares.

"But the market could not hold on the gain, mirroring the current weakness," said Daiwa Securities senior technical analyst Hikaru Sato.

"Investors are also concerned about another dip on Wall Street at the start of the week," Sato told AFP.

"The market is expected to remain fragile at least for the rest of the week," he added.

Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi, strategist at Daiwa Securities said: "Falls in the Nikkei index bottomed out last week, but market participants should be paying attention to earnings reports by Japanese and US companies."

The dollar fetched ¥111.92 in Asian afternoon trade, against ¥111.83 in New York on Friday.

In Tokyo, Sony lost 0.54% to ¥5 802 ahead of its announcement of first-half earnings on Tuesday, while its rival Panasonic fell 0.53% at ¥1 216.5.

Nintendo, which will also release interim results on Tuesday, shed 0.40% to ¥34 670.

Fujitsu plunged 5.44% at ¥6 622 after a brokerage firm revised down its valuation of the information technology firm.